Ga'lo
by J.A. Carlton
Summary: The brothers Winchester find themselves once again in the center of mysterious events as a hybrid beast sets its appetite on their destruction.
1. Chapter 1

Ga'Lo

SN fanfic #3

By J.A. Carlton

aka sifichick

Disclaimer: I do not own Supernatural yadda yadda yadda... etcetera.

This fic will likely be my last foray into the fanwanking realm... I think my muse is going back into retirement after this... Enjoy please and I beg each and every one of you who read the following chapters as they are written, please be kind and review. It's always nice to know where improvements can be made.

Here we go...

OUTSIDE OF MODESTO CA.

Dean rolled over and stuck his toes out into the cold room air. The muscles of his legs quivered as he stretched them out further. In response he felt the rest of his body elongate into that first delicious full-body stretch of the day. This was his favorite moment... just before he woke fully, before the reality of life forced its way into his consciousness. This was peace. A slow smile stretched the corners of his mouth and he felt warmth pressing closer to him. His arm reached forward to draw last nights' companion closer. She smelled like apples and cinnamon and his stomach rumbled in response.

'Breakfast can wait...' he decided while drinking in the warm fragrance. He smiled and puckered his lips, a satin sigh met his ears urging him onward.

"Dean come on we gotta go!"

'Go 'way Sammy... I got the breakfast of champions right here...'

"Dean!" a knitting needle stabbed him right through the head.

"What!" he barked back and felt a second stab hot on the heels of the first. 'Damn, a few too many shots last night I guess.'

"Get Up NOW!"

"I'm up, I'm up... what's up?" he grumbled rolling gingerly into a seated position where something warm and soft was pressed into one hand and the familiar feel of a cup of coffee was pressed into the other, 'damn ribs _still_ hurt... sucks out loud...'

"Thanks," he muttered biting into a warm fresh baked cinnamon apple muffin and chasing it down with some coffee.

They were on the road again, following another one of Sammy's visions before the warmth of the dream had retreated.

Ever since leaving Bull City Arizona and the hospital there Sammy hadn't been quite the same, 'Scratch that... he hasn't been the same since Dad told him that his six month birthday was the night mom was killed...'

He cast a glance at his younger brother dozing in the passenger seat, his skin tinged grey/green by the dark sunglasses he wore, 'What's goin' on with you Sammy? You gotta talk to me, tell me what's goin' on in that freaky noggin of yours...'

For the last couple of months Dean had noticed a subtle shift in Sam and he wasn't quite sure just what to make of it. It wasn't that Sammy hadn't always been, in some ways, a very intense young man, but one thing was certain; he'd always, without exaggeration, Always Hated the hunting life, and now it seemed he was more than just a little bit more at ease with it.

It had started with Jessica's death Dean knew, yet despite his pure shock at finding out from the Demon no less, that Sammy had gone so far as to begin shopping for a ring for her, a part of him had already known.

What scared Dean wasn't Sammy's need for vengeance, heck, hadn't they both grown up with revenge as the key motivator in their family? And it wasn't the almost instantaneous dislike of the one person who'd gone out of their way to help them since his dear Metallicar had been squashed, and it wasn't even that Sammy seemed to think that Their Demon was the only one that mattered anymore. What truly made Dean stop and think these days was how much his little brother seemed to be enjoying the hunt. How he seemed to relish finding the threads and tying them together. He even seemed to be getting a taste for the kill, and THAT was scary.

He remembered prompting Sammy to start practicing with his abilities while they were still in Nebraska, hoping he'd be able to get some control and maybe gain some confidence which would hopefully assuage his guilt over everything the Demon had put them through, but now he wasn't so sure that had been the way to go. Last month, in the middle of a hunt, right on the Demon's trail Sammy had collapsed, landing himself in the hospital and scaring the holy bejeebers out of Dean. Then on the first night of truly restful sleep he'd had in almost two months, Sammy had woken him up out of a warm wonderful dream because he'd had a vision of someone being chased down in a woods by something big and blood thirsty in Oregon of all places. Dean could feel his sinuses starting to fill already.

'Well it'll be worth it if we can save another life... that's all that really matters right?' he asked himself and somewhere in the back of his brain heard a faint reply that just a couple months ago sang out a lot stronger, 'Right.'

He glanced at the map in his right hand then looked up flipping on the Great Gray Betty's turn signal, and began the hand over hand that would cut the hard right he needed to make. In his jacket pocket sat a familiar heavy hardness. In the month since she'd had a nurse give it to him at Sammy's bedside, along with a note explaining what it was and what he should do with it, he had neither told Sammy about it, nor done as she directed and had it melted down for slugs for the colt. He couldn't say what he was waiting for or why he'd kept it to himself other than he didn't want another argument with Sam until he was sure that there was something worth arguing about. She'd said she'd exorcised a demon with it without killing the host, and considering who it was thattold him this, this dagger could be the most potent weapon in their arsenal next to the colt itself. Maybe it was even powerful enough to kill 'Big Bad' as he'd begun to think of their demon.

He didn't want to think about Laura Finnegan though. He didn't want to think about the woman who he was relatively certain had sacrificed her own brother to deprive their demon of a very powerful ally. She'd sent him the dagger as if she'd known Sammy, although grateful for what she'd done for them, didn't really like her. But hadn't he in the beginning? Before Dean had shown any signs of valuing her opinion?

He shook his head, this line of thought only brought a hot, heavy feeling in his gut and a crawling sensation deep in his bowels.

It seemed his foot slammed on the brake before he knew what had happened as something 'person sized' rolled onto, across, and off the hood. His right arm dully acknowledged having been caught between Sammy's head and the dashboard thanks to the quick stop and hesputtered awake as a mid-teen boy dared a terrified look over his shoulder and careened pell mell down a narrow breezeway.

"Dean what the hell?" Sam ground out without a hint of sleep in his voice, in almost the same instant as Dean took in the whole odd scene and saw just another impossibility happen as something huge and unseen seemed to step directly onto the hood of the car, which he heard scream in protest before the pressure was released by the shotgun explosion of the right front tire giving way. His brows furrowed curiously for a split second upon noting the deep two foot in circumference impression, it wasn't so much the 'footprint' as the fact that mud, leaves and assorted grassy detritus had been left behind within it. 'Golem maybe?... but why's it invisible?'

"I don't know! Stay here!" he ordered Sam and leapt from the car to give chase in the direction the boy had run only a hairs' breadth of an instant before.

"Dean!" Sam's deep voice called from behind, tickling his ear as he ran feeling the comforting weight of the ancient Celtic dagger bouncing off his chest wall. It was the only weapon he had on him, he realized as spring fresh laundry litter fluttered lazily past his face, sprung free from a clothesline strung between brownstones.

'Mmmm nice... Downy maybe?... long as it's not that damned teddy bear...'

The breezeway ended in an alley but there was no mistaking the path of the boy and his creature nor the terrified protestations wafting toward him from the right.

"Please no... What do you want?" Dean heard a voice that had definitely regressed to pre-adolescence as he jogged, on full-alert, toward a brick retaining wall that kept the dumpsters safe from vandals.

He pulled the dagger and swung the blade flat up against his forearm to keep it as inconspicuous as possible. As he approached, the boy was working hard at making himself as invisible as his would be assailant.

In a motion so practiced it was seen as a blur, Dean swung the blade out, a literal flick of metallic flash as his arm reached out trying to find the 'invisibeast'. His ears filled with a howl that sounded like the shearing of a rock face from its mountain and his body took flight, then abruptly crashed. He saw that the blade had indeed penetrated...something. That something was big, and lumbering away in some kind of supernatural snit just before it whiffed into nothingness, less than a puff of steam.

'whafa?' he thought pushing himself up, his ribs protesting madly even after two months. "Damnit! Hey! You okay?" he called out to the boy.

Cautious eyes peered around the dumpster as the boy came out seeing that the coast was clear.

"You okay?" he asked again, now pushing himself to his knees and adjusting to a new level of pain.

"Yeah... thanks... how'd you do that?" the kid asked.

'Not... "What was that thing" or "What just happened?" or even "Who are you?"' Dean noticed, 'no he asked "How did you do that?" he knows something about that... thing. and this isn't the first time he's encountered it...' that realization took about a heart beat to come full on so he asked, "What was that?" and finally pushed himself to his feet just as Betty, as he was starting to think of Tiny's loaner, came hobbling down the alley, the freshly bowled hood and cockeyed limp looked far too much to him like a crooked but game wink and smile. He felt his heart yearn for Metallicar as Sam threw her into park and leaped from the drivers' seat.

"What happened? Are you okay?" he gasped looking from his stiffly standing big brother to the young man.

Dean took that instant his attention was on the younger man to slip the dagger discreetly back into its sheath within his jacket pocket.

"Yeah... who are you?" the kid asked.

"I'm Sam... this is my brother Dean," Sammy introduced.

"Greg..." the young man introduced himself and awkwardly offered his hand to the two 'adult' men before him, the older one seemed to be in pain he noticed. He knew that the beast had hit him and wondered if he were hurt.

"You wanna tell us what the hell's goin' on? What that was?" Dean asked feeling the left side of his sternum pulse with every beat of his heart.

Greg shook his head, his eyes wide and flitting left and right, "I'm not sure... but it definitely got bigger.." he looked at Dean with appreciation and even a hint of admiration Sam noticed, "What did you do? What did you hit it with?"

Dean felt the eyes of both this kid and his own brother on him, their combined gazes weighty, hot and expectant.

"Just a pocket knife..." he shrugged. 'Well it's not exactly a lie, it's a knife and it came from my pocket...' he justified to himself. Dean hated lying unless it was to cops, and he knew he sucked at it so tended to dodge the tough questions or toss out one of his snappy retorts... he'd had a lot of practice. "You said it got bigger? Obviously you've seen... do you see it?" he asked suddenly.

Greg nodded looking at Dean like he was crazy. "Yeah... how else would I know when to run? What don't you?" he asked suddenly.

Shaking his head with a tiny movement Dean pointed to Betty and her debris laden soup-bowl hood, "We see the results."

"Yeah, sorry about that..." Greg blushed.

"What's it look like?" Sam asked pulling a small notebook from his jacket pocket.

Greg shifted nervously and began casting earnest glances as Sam pulled out a pen and found a clean sheet of paper.

'Dammit Sammy, you know the notebook freaks people out!' "Actually he's a cryptozoology nut... always lookin' for sasquatch y'know?"

Greg nodded and looked at Sam with a more discerning eye. He'd seen more than his fair share of Big Foot hunters and scammers but this guy didn't seem to fit either bill honestly. 'Whatever', he shrugged mentally.

"Okay... well it's about eight feet tall now, kinda has a troll-type build, but a D&D type troll not a Harry Potter type..." he could see Sam containing a smile while the older guy just seemed to be confused and not wanting to admit it. 'Real cool Greg! God you are such a dork!' "My sister watches one of the movies at least once a week... She's crushing on Daniel Radcliffe..."

"Hey, chicks dig scars..." Dean muttered trying to sound companionable, and actually smiled for what seemed like the first time since they hooked up with their dad to get their hands on the Colt. "Okay, so big and lumbering... what else?" Dean asked looking between the two younger men, "What? I don't know what a troll looks like!"

Later...

'Don't bother to give me a hand with this tire Sammy... just 'cause it feels like someone's got the jaws of life stuck into my chest doesn't mean I could use a little help here... Damn these lugs're freakin' tight! Is he talking to me?' "What?" Dean asked looking up and over the fender.

"I said... 'cryptozoology nut' that was good... You think Tiny's gonna be too ticked?" Sam asked.

Dean felt himself smile, he couldn't wait to get back to Tinys and see how far he'd progressed with Metallicar. "Probably, but at least we don't have to worry about any crackpot stories with him." 'Yeah Tiny's a safe subject... I should e-mail Laura, see how she's doing... I wonder if Bobby's got wireless yet? He'll teach her the ropes.'

"Yeah, at least there's that. Have you gotten any updates on the car yet?" Sam asked.

Dean felt the short hairs at the base of his neck almost stand on end until he realized, 'Okay, natural conversational progression...' "No, not since last week, said he was looking for a new engine block... but... you know."

"Yeah since he's doing it for free we can't really rush him..."

'Yes! It's starting to give!' "Nope," a jarring turn and the lugs broke free, 'Finally! damned things.'

"You talk to Laura lately?" Sam asked almost cautiously as he brought the spare tire around from the trunk. This was no donut but a full extra tire.

'I love older cars!' Dean thought as Sam rolled the tire up and shooed him aside so he could lift it onto the stems. He knew Dean was in pain but knew he'd never want to admit it so didn't bother pressing the issue, instead he just did the heavy part while letting Dean feel like he was doing it all. After all that had happened to them within the last year, and all they'd been through on their own Sammy was finally starting to glean an inkling of how to handle Dean. It felt good.

"Eh, you know, same old same old, 'how ya doin? Fine you? Starting to work out the kinks yet? How's dad? Same...' kinda stuff."

"So there's nothing new with Dad yet?" Sam asked sounding a little disappointed.

"Nadathing and I don't mind telling you it's got me a little... you know how they say people in comas can hear you and stuff?" he asked then continued noting Sam's nod, "What if he's not hearing us because we're not there? What if he doesn't know we want him to get well y'know?" 'that we don't blame him for what he did while he was possessed...' he added but only to himself. He knew that what the demon had done to them in their dad's skin was a sensitive subject for his baby brother, who couldn't let go of the idea that it wasn't his fault.

Sam cocked his head, "So you want to go see him?"

"Yeah, after we finish with this thing the kid's got on his ass... any ideas on what it is yet?"

Sam flipped back in his notebook and while doing so muttered, "You know I gotta say I'm sorry Dean. I said some pretty rotten things about Laura, I judged her pretty harshly and after all she's done to help us... I don't think it was fair..."

'Hmmm finally, but why now?' Dean shrugged and slapped him on the shoulder grinning, "Yeah but you made some good points though. Like I keep telling you Sammy, with what we do, you just can't get close to people."

"Yeah I know but we do have SOME friends and she should be counted among them," he watched Deans expression carefully, curiosity burning deep within. He knew there was something to the connection Dean had made with the Nurse under a Curse, but he was also pretty sure Dean, with his peace-maker nature would just as soon keep it to himself rather than start another fight.

Guilt clawed into his belly, after all these years together he knew every one of Dean's buttons, he knew his dad's too but that wasn't the point. The point was that in the last year he'd almost gotten both his dad and his brother, the one person who never wavered, never vacillated, the one true constant in his life killed, and to make matters worse, he'd berated him for making a connection that had never even made it to one-night-stand status. Sam also knew that since there hadn't been any kind of passes or sexual conquest that Dean actually liked the woman. For some reason Sammy admitted to himself that the idea scared him. His knee-jerk response had been to quash Dean's appreciation of this woman and that he'd done so as effectively as he had embarrassed him.

Whenever Sammy thought about it, that his brother had never even made a pass at her it shook up his guts, and after a full month's passage he'd begun to understand why. Dean, while maybe not _Loving_ the hunt, loved that it meant helping people. There was something in his older brother that had been brought fully to life after their mothers' murder, a need, something visceral and sometimes dark, but above all else deep, to help and protect anyone he thought might be more vulnerable or less able than himself. But there was one thing Dean didn't often acknowledge and that was his own needs, unless of course they were sexual and even then Sammy was relatively certain that was a shroud of sorts over his psyche. Either way, Sam admitted the idea of Dean connecting with yet another person under a curse scared him. Maybe it was the Fates' way of telling him it was time to start carrying his own weight and start looking out for Dean a bit. Internally he shrugged having gone round this particular train of thought for the umpteenth time,

'Or not.'

"Yeah well I never stopped," Dean admitted moving back around the car and double checkingthe last lug. He still wasn't ready to tell Sammy he'd introduced her to Bobby and he'd pretty much sworn Bobby to secrecy as well, needing only to say that that's how he wanted it. Bobby could be easy like that sometimes. He chuckled to himself wondering which of them would teach the other more in the end.

"Got any ideas about that invisi-beast yet?" he asked.

Sam shook his head, "Other than a thoughtform or a Golem of some kind, but even if it were how could it be invisible? I mean Golems are traditionally made of clay or mud or something so that explains its 'footprints' but they're not usually invisible..."

"Yeah, and as far as I know I've never heard of a Golem growing either... so that kinda puts it back into the realm of a thoughtform, or a tulpa since according to Greg it has a definite form..."

"Yeah well you know as well as I do Dean we're talking about two very different ways of killing it depending on what exactly it is so..."

"So as soon as Greg's out of school we have a nice little chat, find out what he's been dabbling in," Dean finished as if anything they ever did went that easily.

'Optimist,' Sam shook his head.

BOBBY'S

Bobby stood back fascinated by the intricacies of the ancient Celtic ritual unfolding before him. When Dean had asked him to show this woman the basics of hunting he'd been skeptical to say the least, but after almost a month in her company he realized what it only took Dean a couple days to see. Her every day life as a nurse was one of the most thorough disguises he'd ever seen. As a hunter she had a gift for being exactly where she was needed even if her physical skills were, somewhat rusty. He had to admit there was something a little... intense about her desire to learn whatever she could from him but he figured some of that came from her recent experience with Big Bad as she called the Winchester Demon. Whatever it was, and Bobby wasn't one to pry when it came to the motivating factors of other hunters, had troubled her deeply. For the first week with him and who knew how long before then she hadn't slept without either screaming type nightmares to wake her or tears to put her out. Either way she did seem to finally be coming to a kind of level place. If he hadn't been so accustomed to John and Dean's emotional cover-up techniques she might have infuriated him, but thanks to over two decades of practice with the two eldest Winchesters he managed to manage. Still it did strike him hard just how much she reminded him of Dean in particular. When she wasn't being overwhelmingly serious she had the same smart ass sense of humor he did. All in all Bobby found it very strange and more than just a little eerie.

Then there were moments like these when the knowledge she'd carried through the ages thanks to her curse astounded him.

She'd awoken from a dream that the boys were in danger, a result, she explained, of having sampled Dean's subconscious on the night he was brought to her ER. It was also how she knew Sam wasn't exactly liking the idea of some stranger having hidden their dad away. Bobby was planning on texting Dean as soon as the ritual was done, she'd promised last night to take him to see John so he could verify that he was alright, and true to her word, she had. Despite reservations about anyone finding out via some cosmic circuit or telepathically enhanced demon she'd known they could only go on trusting her so implicitly for so long. Bobby had to admit he'd been relieved to see his old friend even thought he was still unconscious. He could hear the distress in her voice when she held his hand and told him, tried to influence him to heal for his boys, and there had been tears in her eyes when she told him she felt like John was giving up. Bobby was hoping his boys could bring him around.

They'd come to the conclusion that it was as safe as it was going to get. John's need to hear that his boys needed him was greater than her need to ensure no other harm came to him or the boys through him, and that's what part of the ritual was about.

At the table Laura's whole body whipped backward knocking Bobby off balance as electricity coursed over and through her, flowing down her right arm through the fingertips that rested in a shallow silver plate of water. Steam rose and the water began to shift, to layer upon itself as if it wasn't water but instead clear flat stones flowing upwards onto each other, literally defying gravity.

Bobby could feel the hairs all over his entire body trying to stand up at once. In an instant the impossible column of water shifted and mimicked the human form. In another moment the form bowed and spoke the language of stony streams which to Bobby's amazement she seemed to understand and respond to. He wondered how long she was going to be able to withstand the energy flow between her body and the water entity she'd summoned. The air crackled of its own accord thanks to the amount of static that was being thrown by this part of the ritual and seconds became frightening, interminable minutes.

"I understand and humbly thank the Sidhe kith and kin," she finally whispered as the tiny figure bowed and became a smaller version of the pool it began as.

Bobby sat at the table and handed her a glass of water which almost slid right through her sweat soaked hands as she tried to catch her breath and drink.

He looked at her with open expectation.

Laura nodded, "Part one is done, the Sidhe have agreed to observe and advise if they sense any evil lurking around John once we get him back here."

He looked at her suspiciously, "That was some seriously ancient magik youngun, what's the price?"

She shook her head clearly exhausted, "It's not like that Bobby."

"I'm not as dumb as I look, explain it to me," he prompted gruffly.

Laura smiled, it had become a running joke with them, she didn't look too tough and he didn't look too smart but they could both hold their own.

"I told you I gave a blood bond to Cernunos to save my brother. I made a choice that night that is, in part, what's allowing me to perform these magiks, but in exchange I'm not allowed to sit on the sidelines with my head in the sand anymore. I'm free to live my life so long as I don't turn a blind eye to otherworldly evil," she sighed deep and heavy then.

Bobby whistled low, "Wow, you really _are_ cursed."

Laura put forth a valiant effort to suppress the smile his quips always brought out but was having limited success, she nodded and said, "Just an fyi… never hunt the favored stag of a God."

"Got it, I think I'll just take venison off the menu altogether."

"Better safe than sorry."

They chuckled until Bobby finally asked, "Okay, what's next?"

SOUTHERN OREGON

"Split up!" Dean shouted making a bee-line for the woods while Greg and Sammy careened left and right respectively, each of them had an identical clay tablet that they hoped would weaken the Ga'lo long enough to disrupt the energy feeding it by hitting it with their jacked up tasers. Dean wasn't wild about using the damned things since the Rawhead incident when he'd almost managed to kill himself. That brought thoughts of Layla.

'Here we go…' he thought feeling a heavy swell of guilt, 'if only she'd been healed… she deserves it a helluva lot more than I do…' he felt the ground shudder behind him as the Ga'lo changed direction, lumbering after him now and sounding very much like it was growing in time with his guilt, 'Come on Sammy… don't let me down… huh, great song,' he thought fleetingly.

Another crazy thought dashed through his head, his younger brother watching him being chased down by his own guilt, squashed and devoured as both he and their dad looked on laughing maniacally, even going so far as to toast their good fortune with bottles of beer as his broken body became one with the Earth.

'Oh crap!... falling now… tuck and roll… oh yeah… OW! Mudda!' the toe of his boot caught a tree root and he was headed for a hard impact. He tucked his head and threw his feet up turning an impending face plant into a shoulder roll just as he heard Sammy call out behind him,

"Dean!" and it actually sounded like there was genuine concern there.

'I'm not pathetic like you…' he heard next remembering the pain he felt at the utterance of those words while they were in that asylum in Rockford Illinois and for the life of him he couldn't remember if Sam had said that before or after shooting him with ashotgun chock full of rocksalt. Either way, the words had hurt more than the blast had. They'd never cleared the air about that but Dean knew that if it was said then it was because it had been there for Ellicott's ghost to dredge out. Dull achy weight seemed to press into his chest as he saw a blue streak course through the invisibeast and it took everything he had to resist the urge to scramble for a far away corner until the tasers charge had dissipated. His eyes followed the twin leads as they seemed to fall a few feet, indicating that the Ga'lo had indeed shrunk a bit, its energy feed disrupted just as they'd hoped.

He was just about to try and push up onto his feet as Sammy jumped onto the creatures' back, clay tablet in hand and ready to shove it into its mouth when what felt like a boulder slammed him square in the chest. He felt a sickening splintering on the left side of his sternum, the same side that had been practically torn open by Big Bad as the breath flew out of his body and he was catapulted through the air, consciousness slipping away into the night around him.

"Dean!" he heard the deep of Sammy's voice and imagined he heard in the back of his head a distinct female of Laura's voice call out to him as awareness left him with one last thought. 'Maybe he really does care.'

ON THE ROAD

"What is it? What's wrong?" Bobby asked as Laura gasped in the passenger seat and slammed her hand into her chest. There was no mistaking an air of urgency in his voice, the sensation had come out of nowhere.

"Dean…" she gasped glancing at Bobby as what must've been another shot of pain doubled her over in the seat, "he's hurt… I don't understand this… he should've been good as new by now…"

"What? What happened?" Bobby asked pulling over. Thankfully they didn't have John in the back of the van yet, the last thing he'd need was to hear that his eldest was hurt again, 'then again maybe that would snap him out of it…' "How do you know?" he asked then clarified after a look from her, "I get that you're feeling it but how?"

She shook her head nearly gasping now, "I don't know… maybe increased sensitivity…."

"What from the ritual or something?"

"Christ I don't know… Bobby!..."

OREGON.

"Dean! Come on Dean don't do this to me… please…" Sam could feel his throat tightening around that last word. How many times had it worked its charm on Dean to get Sam his way? 'A lot,' was the answer Sam came up with, 'So please let it work now… oh God I can barely feel him breathing…' his hands fumbled wildly in the dark, his own pockets as foreign to him as they would be to anyone else as he frantically sought out his cell phone to call 911. 'There, inside pocket…' relief coursed over him as Dean's eyes came open and he heaved a deep gasping breath, sputtered a cough and pushed himself upright against his brothers' restraining hands.

'Wow, my chest doesn't hurt anymore… all I had to do was get the crap beat out of me by a freakin' Ga'lo, musta popped my sternum back right...' he took a deep breath, wondering why Sammy looked like he was halfway between tears and 'oh God he's gonna hug me…' but he didn't.

"Dean are you alright? What hurts? Just hold still," Sam directed pressing him back by the shoulders and avoiding his chest.

"I'm okay Sammy… really."

Sam looked at him cockeyed, like he was crazy but against his better judgment helped his older brother to his feet.

"Really," Dean was grinning his old cockeyed smile that Sam hadn't realized had been missing since Nebraska. "Wow!" Dean huffed, his palm on his chest beneath his jacket as he seemed to assess his damage.

"What?"

"Nothing…" Dean continued to grin.

"What?" Sam asked confused.

"Never mind… where is it?" Dean smiled and wiggled his eyebrows gamely as he slapped Sam on the shoulder and met Greg's disbelieving eyes.

'Hey! he's talking to you stupid!' Greg's internal 'awareness guy' whispered, "Huh? Oh, that way…" he mumbled pointing in the direction of some crunched flora. They were off.

"Sammy did you get that tablet into its mouth?" Dean asked as they ran, he thought, 'I gotta thank that thing! I haven't felt this good in months!... I could run for miles.'

"No, I saw you get hit then… how you hit that tree… Dean are you sure you're alright?" Sam asked at his side.

Dean could hear his little brother having trouble now, both to talk and to keep up. 'I feel great can't he tell?' "Never better Sammy get a move on!" he taunted pouring on just a little more speed and for the first time since Sam's sophomore year growth spurt, pulled ahead of him. His legs and arms were pumping like they'd never done before and though Sammy had longer legs and could usually outrun him, now Dean felt like he was flying as he soared into the lead coming quickly upon the wake of flora as it shifted and swayed for the invisibeasts' passage. It was slowing down and apparently losing cohesion as leaves, twigs and clods of dirt shot past him. To his amazement he could pick each piece out as if it was flying at him in slow motion and evade it with ease. He wondered fleetingly if he were dreaming, or dead.

Sammy watched his older brother pull ahead of him, something he hadn't been able to do since Dean hit twenty. He could usually keep up but to pull ahead so decisively it was as he had wings on his feet. Sam knew there was something seriously unusual going on, '…and the way he's moving…it's so… fluid… I've never seen him move like that…'a small voice from somewhere deep responded authoritatively, 'Or maybe he's actually feeling like his old self again finally. You've seen how stiff he's been lately, how even after a small tussle his ribs ache…' another voice, this one a lot closer to the surface retorted, 'I heard the sound of bones breaking again… I'll never forget that sound for as long as I live… what the hell is going on?' but his questions would have to wait, Dean was almost fifty yards ahead of him and Greg and from the sound of things, already trying to take on the Ga'lo by himself. Casting a quick glance to his right to make sure Greg was with him Sam nodded and forced himself to run harder.


	2. Chapter 2

SN fic: Ga'lo

chapter 2

by J.A. Carlton

aka sifichick

Disclaimer: A guy named Kripke owns Supernatural and the associated characters.

Luckily I love the boys enough to write this final fic. For anyone who bothers to read this, criticism is appreciated, hopefully it's constructive.

Thanx in advance.

sifi.

Ga'lo Chapter 2.

BOBBY'S HOUSE.

"Here lemme get that..." Bobby offered as they finagled John's transport gurney through the narrow halls of his house and into his office, recently converted into a room for his longtime friend.

"I got it!" Laura nearly snarled. Ever since the pain started in the van he'd been coddling her. She knew he'd gotten pretty freaked when the wheezing started and she hacked up a few drops of blood, and though all that had stopped she was still white and waxier than anything Madame Tousseaud had ever created.

"No… ya don't!... now move and let me get him settled," he gently but firmly moved her out of the way. What little pressure he exerted on her shoulders seemed to transmit all the way down her torso, giving her ribs a 'collapsible cup' feeling that literally made her pull away from him. He scrutinized her at length until she felt awkward enough to shrug and leave him to wrestle John into the room alone.

By the time he was finished getting everything in place she was sitting at the kitchen table with a Celtic cross tarot spread half read before her.

"The boys are on their way. I called Dean and told him we brought John here. He said they were already on their way and should be here by tomorrow early afternoon," she muttered turning over another card, this one the eight of pentacles, indicating continued study or ongoing education.

"How'd he sound?" Bobby asked pointedly.

"Good… fine… excellent actually…" she still refused to look at him even as he sat at the next chair.

"Good… glad to hear it…" he nodded, "You planning on being here when they get here?"

She shrugged tightly every aspect of the motion seeming stiff and guarded as if the act of breathing alone caused pain.

Bobby didn't mind admitting this sudden onset of symptoms scared him. If this was some kind of trade she'd made through one of the rituals' aspects, he didn't like it at all.

After he'd pulled over she'd thrown the passenger door open and fallen to all fours on the shoulder, her breath coming in gasps and stomach clenching until small droplets of blood came up, each onea self contained Rorschach blot. He recalled vaguely hearing a sound like twigs snapping as her arms shook and an expression of pure agony reminded him of why and how he'd gotten into hunting himself. He shook his head to dispel the memory, he couldn't think about that _and_ act rationally, after all this was someone very different.

"I don't know but if you don't stop looking at me like that I'm going to hit you," she threatened lightly and flipped the next card to find the King of Rods staring at her. She shook her head. "Maybe not. You know… Sam… he and Dean need to be in sync…"

"Well if you aren't going to be here, then maybe you should get yourself…"

"I don't need to be looked at!" she nearly growled, 'they'd just admit me,' she thought.

"Alright, alright, it was just a suggestion…"

Her eyes flashed as an idea sped across the ticker of her brain, "You don't mention any of this to Dean Bobby! If he even thinks there's a possibility that any of this could be related to him… I won't have it do you understand me?" she demanded almost choking on her own words.

"But you have to admit it might…" he shook his head, "he has a right to know…"

"No absolutely not! He has enough on his shoulders, and enough guilt and self doubt to fill the Houston Astrodome! There's no way I'm gonna let him think for a single moment that any of this might have anything to do with him, do you get me! Not a…" she finally did choke on her words, buckling to the floor locked into a wracking coughing fit that left her gasping furiously for air. Bobby was at her side in a flash, one hand across her back and the other across her chest in case she passed out. It was a good precaution, as he lifted her gently from the floor to take her to her room he shook his head,

"It's the _Reliant_ Astrodome kiddo…"

NEAR THE WYOMING BORDER.

Sam didn't know what to think. Dean was crashed out in the passenger seat snoring lightly, putting off an oddly contented vibe since the call came through from Laura telling him that she'd talked to Bobby and arranged for John to reside with him. Other than that little bit Dean hadn't confided in Sam despite the fact that he talked to the woman, 'bitch' snarled in the back of his head, for several minutes.

He shook his head not understanding where this dislike for her was coming from. He thought he understood its origins; that he was just afraid for his brother but knowing that Dean was talking to her, having a civilized conversation with her beyond the needs and condition of their father… it just rubbed him the wrong way. He thought about what Dean had said to him just before they'd gone to rescue their dad, Dean had called him a 'selfish bastard' and it hadn't been the first time. There was that time in Indiana too, that was when he'd first met Meg. A chill ran up his spine at the memory but he couldn't help wondering if maybe Dean was right. '…I mean he deserves some measure of happiness, some kind of… something outside the family doesn't he?...' he waited for a response from deep within but none seemed to come forth, 'doesn't he?' he asked again then forced an answer from himself, 'of course he does… we all do… but where's my happiness? where's dad's? why should he find someone that means something to him when dad and I have no one? It's not right…' he heard himself think then added, 'I really am a selfish bastard…' and felt even worse if that was possible. After everything his dad and brother had always done for him and he could admit to himself… it was just to painful a thought for him to finish.

Anger and frustration began to boil in his guts and he realized that his foot had lifted slightly from the gas pedal. Determined to get there as quickly as possible he pushed it down much like Dean would and watched the yellow stripes blur into one big line in the road. 'that's more like it…I hope she's there… we need to have a talk me and her… who does she think she is trying to get into his head? What right has she got to try and keep us from our father!... who the hell does she think she is?' he wondered and heard that same little voice in the back of his head, 'what a bitch!' On his right Dean moaned, tossed his head and took a shaky breath that seemed to hitch halfway in, as if his respite from the pain he'd been living with for the last two months was ending andwas about to return with a vengeance.

Dean was running faster than he'd ever run or ever dreamed of running. The ground flowed by beneath him, a canvas of colors sliding past as he chased the Ga'lo. He could see light bending around it, outlining it like some special effect and wondered once more if he was dead, 'No, just dreaming…' his inner voice responded allowing him to relax into the wicked cool fantasy.

Fact and perception mingled as he re-lived a leap that seemed to last forever onto the creatures' back. In reality, by the time he'd tackled it, it was no larger than him, but in the dream it was the eight foot invisibeast he was taking on and winning against.

The waning daylight cast an ethereal haze over the landscape creating a surreal relief that seemed to pulse through every living thing.

He looked down at the Ga'lo beneath him, its flat clay-like features recently made visible somehow. It blinked over the mere depressions that served as its eyes and smiled, the rim of its rudimentary maw twisting obscenely before him.

'That's not right… these things are just puppets, they don't have emotions…' he thought feeling a strange heaviness in his belly.

"You think what you do matters?" it asked, its voice crisp and clear, where Dean would've thought it would be muddled and thick. That it could talk shocked him, that it would or could ask a question of that very nature left him speechless and jack-o-lantern hollow, "You?… what you do?… what you think is so important…" it mocked.

At his ear he heard a familiar voice that seemed to wrap the chill out of him, "Put the tablet in its mouth Dean."

His hand moved prying open the Ga'los jaw as the other slid the small clay square into its mouth and under its tongue.

"You mean nothing…" it uttered as it began to petrify and crumble.

"Nothing is an accident," that soft warm voice breathed smiling easily into his ear, he wanted to turn his head and see her face, in fact he was trying to but couldn't. He knew that voice, it haunted his dreams and layered him in unconditional love whenever he thought his world was about to crumble, but he never saw her. It was as if every time he tried to something stopped him like he was afraid to see her after all this time. So he fed himself on the love he knew she gave and made due with that.

"Mom…" he whispered letting the memory of her warmth comfort him.

"Dean… it all has purpose…YOU have purpose…" she assured him and he would've sworn he felt her hand on his head.

All his doubts and feelings of inferiority fell crushing within him and he felt tears prick the corners of his eyes, "What purpose? All I ever do is get people hurt… they… I want… Dad… Sammy… I can't…" he choked feeling his head drawn into a safe, comforting, gentle embrace.

"Shhhh t'sokay… I'm here. I'll always be here for you…" he could feel her hand smoothing his hair, "You just keep doing your best, being your best… in the end it'll…"

His head rocked forward as Sam slammed on the breaks for a rabbit with bad timing.

"What!" he yelped, a hint of desperation behind the word, 'What? it'll what? Please tell me it'll be okay in the end…' he thought pained as he turned and looked at his younger brother.

"Sorry," Sam apologized, "just a rabbit…" he gave Dean a moment to blink himself back to reality, he knew what it felt like to awaken abruptly uncertain of anything.

He was sorry to have awakened his brother. When Dean was asleep he was at peace, no one brow beating him about the virtues of what they were doing, no preaching, no moralizing… just peace.

"You dreaming about Allyson Hannigan again?" he asked grinning.

"Mmm…" Dean smiled wistfully, "not this time… just about taking down that Ga'lo," he sighed sleepily. He never told anyone about his dreams about Mom; not Dad, and certainly not Sam. 'He'd probably use some freshman psych course and analyze the 'comfort' right out of them.'

"Where are we?" he asked wiping his face and searching the velvet blackness outside the windows for some sign of their location.

"We're almost through Wyoming, we should be at Bobby's in time for lunch."

"Pull over willya… I gotta take a leak," Dean yawned.

The night air was cool and moist on his face as he stepped around to the rear of the car and a few feet off the road. Part of his mind was still on the dream, the 'Mom' part of it anyway, 'In the end it'll what?' he asked himself as a tiny voice unacknowledged for over two decades pleaded tearfully and remained yet again unacknowledged, 'Please give me my family back.'

ELSEWHERE.

Viscous, cloying images layered themselves within his mind, each laden with grotesque atrocities both real and imagined. People he knew from the present and the past contorted in agony, screaming, crying and pleading for him to help them though he couldn't. He couldn't move, could barely breathe as their agonies assailed him compounding his sense of failure and impotence.

'God help me… save me from this nightmare please… I can't take it much longer…' he prayed yet again and felt himself climbing stairs.

He could smell grease and rubber and the unmistakable fragrance of parts cleaner. 'Thank God I'm home!...' he thought looking around. So many memories flooding him, reminding him of happy days before everything had gone to hell.

'Ah, there's my baby…' he could feel himself smiling as his gaze lovingly caressed the almost mirrored finish of his beloved Impala who sat resting comfortably in one of the repair bays, it was raining out after all.

Above him, as he approached the first step to the loft the fluorescents began to flicker, slowly at first then as he began to sense that though this place was like a second home to him he still wasn't himself, it gave a final flash and fizzled completely leaving him in the deep dark.

"Damnit!" he cursed but knew the entirety of the garage well enough to find a 10mm open ended box wrench if he were blind. 'besides, there's nothing there in the dark that isn't there in the light…' he reminded himself but even as he did, he sensed there was something just a little wrong with that assumption.

As he reached the fourth step he felt his back foot slip a bit and groaned inwardly, 'Great don't tell me we've got a damned leak…' he thought reaching down and feeling the consistency of filthy oil on the floor. 'Damn that Louie! How many times do I have to tell him to make sure the lid is tight on the bucket before he brings the crap to the holding tank! The little shit isn't going to have a job much longer if he doesn't learn to clean up after himself… he's gonna get someone a cracked head one of these days…' he shook his head and climbed the rest of the stairs cautiously.

'That's weird, usually I can see the streetlights from here,' he thought as he felt his toe hook under something that shouldn't have been there. He felt himself lurch and stumble and heard a grunt from the floor as he caught himself before falling onto his face.

"Man! What the hell's wrong with you?" he cursed angrily, 'drunk again! for the love of God pass out on the couch like a normal person!' he turned the switch on the light that sat on the break room table and looked around the loft, his brows furrowed in a complete lack of understanding. It looked like someone had gone berserk with spray paint in the most unusual burnt red color. "What the…" air 'whoosh'ed from his lungs as he turned back to the doorway and saw something he couldn't quite wrap his brain around. It looked like someone had taken the innards of a cow or a bear or some other large animal and left them in a huge bloody heap on the middle of the floor. A faint pulsing shimmer in the midst of the pile caught his attention followed by a glistening wet billowing of what could only be lung tissue could be seen coming to rest up against the membrane of the diaphragm in an effort to take a breath.

He felt himself tighten in several key places at once. His bowels, his guts and his balls all seemed to squeeze tight as if cinched in a vise and he wondered if he was going to throw up as the scent of hot copper and human waste finally hit him square on.

"Oh my god!" he breathed moving to the remains of his partner. 'How did I not smell it?' he asked himself and noticed that his partner had one good eye remaining that was trying to get his attention. 'Why doesn't he just say something?' the insane thought flitted through his mind then he realized the full impact of what it meant, 'how can he still be alive?' he also noticed that there was no jawbone left on what remained of the mans' skull. 'Whoever did this knew exactly what they were doing… they tore him apart without damaging most of the major vessels… he was left alive like this on purpose… my God what kind of man could do such a thing? What kind of sick fuck could do this to another human being?'

The closer he looked the more he saw, his partners' flesh seemed to have been torn apart and mostly off, the skin that he could see had been left was little more than tattered scraps of flesh fluttering with each gasping breath he took.

"Who did this?" he asked trying to keep his gorge from exploding. Finally his partner caught his eye silently and flicked a look over his shoulder and behind him. All at once his skin tightened even further and he would've sworn his balls just climbed back up into his body. Though he didn't believe in monsters, there was no other way to describe the kind of person who could do this kind of damage and still leave a victim alive. He could feel something of life saving importance beating desperately at the walls of his awareness, but he didn't believe in monsters.

He rose and grasped the jacket of the assailant with a speed he'd long since thought he'd forgotten, and found himself locking eyes with him. He didn't know what he expected to see in those eyes that held his, perhaps the shadow of something monstrous, insane or even completely inhuman, what he didn't expect to see was the absolute normalcy before him. Surely anyone who could do something so heinous must be at least a little mad.

The scant distance between them shifted abruptly, torquing and stretching until he could see the entire form of his own son bathed in blood and seemingly oblivious to it as that face he knew so well smiled widely at him.

His heart beat slowed in pure dismay as the rear wall of his awareness exploded and he heard his own voice screaming, "He's not your son he's your brother!"

BOBBY'S HOUSE.

Laura's eyes opened as she breathed deep, confused only for a split second as Bobby smiled wanly at her,

"Y'okay now?" he asked.

"Yeah," she nodded swinging her legs over the edge of the bed and sitting up fast, wincing in pain as she did so.

"John…" she said thickly and shambled to the back room with Bobby in tow, unsure of what was happening.

At the doorway they could see John's eyes moving tightly beneath his closed lids, his left hand clenched into a fist and his breathing had definitely sped up.

Laura moved to his side and checked his vitals then leaned down and said very clearly to him, "John, come on! Wake up!" she urged firmly while tapping his cheeks gently. She was well aware that he could certainly keep dreaming while remaining in a coma but she felt as if he were trying to swim up from the depths.

"John! I said get up!" she ordered more clearly and looked at Bobby who shrugged.

"The boys're coming to see you buck-o, don't you wanna see them? See how they're doin? Y'can't do that if you're unconscious man…" he added.

They met eyes again and shrugged.

"Come on John, they need you!" she pleaded once more and shook her head, "Listen to me, they're going to be here by lunchtime, you will be awake do you hear me?" she instructed wondering if his huge sense of guilt over what he'd done while possessed was keeping him down. Usually anyone she'd tried to influence like this would've been finishing up with physical therapy by now.

She'd been able to sense the depth of his guilt and self recrimination since she'd witnessed what they'd been through and what Big Bad had done and said to his boys while in John's skin. She knew he hated himself for not being able to stop it from hurting them, or even from taking him over, and though she'd told him over and over it wasn't his fault, and no one could've stopped it, and that the boys only wanted him back, she still felt like he wasn't listening.

LATER.

Dean got out of the car closing the door as softly as possible. Sam was finally getting some restful sleep and he didn't want to disturb him. Dean knew his brother was unnerved by his sudden recovery and truth be told, if the situation was reversed he would've been too.

As he squeezed the gas pump nozzle he was still trying to figure out how to explain to Sam that yesterday's action was just a by-product of finally feeling normal again. The last thing he wanted was to give him something more to worry about, 'the kid's got enough on his shoulders…' he thought knowing that Sam's nightmares had gone through quite a change since the cabin incident. It wasn't just visions and headaches and missions, '…oh my…', Sammy had begun to indulge in the weighty assumption that he was the cause for all of their family problems, for what happened to Mom and Jess, and now to their Dad, but as if that wasn't enough guilt to shoulder needlessly, he'd begun to wallow in the sense that every second that ticked by that he didn't find and kill this demon made him responsible for every family the thing went after. He let Sam think he was succeeding in hiding the regular nightmares from him but Dean had noticed. It was his job to notice, and when the time came he would have to straighten Sam out, again.

'I wish I could take this from you Sam… I wish you didn't have to feel this pain…' he felt his compassion give a little squeeze. Even if he could take the burden from Sam, he doubted Sam would let him. 'He might though,'

The pump latch flicked against his curled hand and he gave it one last squeeze before heading inside for some snacks and coffee.

At the register he looked at his brother's sleeping head tilted against the window and cocked a half smile as the early morning shadows began to shorten with the rising of the sun.

The clerk slid the credit card slip across the counter at him and as he lowered his eyes to sign it he caught a fleeting bar of shadow pass over Gray Betty's side. He looked up again and saw Sammy shift position, his brow furrowed slightly but he couldn't say why. 'Imagination… you don't get overtime pay… knock it off…' he reprimanded himself, after all his guts weren't twisting the way they usually did when something was wrong with his family.

Back in the car Sam started waking slowly as Dean turned the engine over and pulled out onto the road. In an uncharacteristic moment he patted Sam's shoulder, "Go back to sleep Sammy… it's okay."

In response the youngest Winchester moaned and rolled his head before floating back into the abyss.

BOBBY'S HOUSE.

"Dean!"

The hoarse guttural howl from the back room made both of them jump as though electrified.

"John!" they gasped together though Laura was faster to turn and run through the hall to the room.

"Hold on there tiger…" she urged racing to him to help support him as he tried to force his way up.

"Who the hell're you? Get away from me! Where're my boys…!" his eyes fell on his longtime friend moving into the room, "Bobby… Dean, Sammy, where are they?" he demanded croaking as he feebly tried to shove Laura away.

Getting the hint she stepped back letting Bobby sit at the edge of the bed while she went and got a glass of water for him.

She sat at the kitchen table letting Bobby fill him in on everything that had happened in the last two months. John's questions were rock hard and militaristic and Bobby's responses were an easy buzz that had a lulling effect as he helped his friend put the pieces back together so he could see the whole picture.

She stayed in the kitchen, waiting patiently until she head a sharp expletive and heard Bobby call for her.

"Yeah?" she asked poking her head around the door jamb.

"Can you… that is… he wants to…" Bobby stammered, "that is if he can walk…"

"Ah…" she nodded grinning and actually blushed meeting John's eyes, "You're going to be unsteady but your muscles are still pretty well toned…" she looked over her shoulder at Bobby, "You wanna step out?"

"Just tell me what to do and I'll do it myself…" John grumbled.

"Uh yeah I don't think so…" she drawled as Bobby shut the door, "I'm the one who put it in, you got nothing I haven't seen…"

It was John's turn to blush as she efficiently removed his catheter then draped his arm across her shoulders to help him stand. "You go right ahead and lean on me, I won't let you fall," she assured him softly barely feeling the stabbing in her chest walls with the added weight. Bobby opened the door and stepped back.

"Hmm. Thanks," he muttered awkwardly. What he needed was time to digest everything Bobby had told him and this unfamiliar woman's presence wasn't helping matters.

"Bobby you wanna hang out and give him a hand? I get the feeling a familiar face will help more than I can…" she asked making sure John had a firm grip on the sink with one hand before she partially closed the door leaving him alone.

"Sure… what's up?" Bobby asked. Something in her face told him something was wrong. She'd put so much energy into caring for John that Bobby couldn't help but feel a little irked by his behavior, 'Ungrateful S.O.B. no wonder I almost filled your ass with buckshot!'

"Nothing," she lied, "he just needs time to get used to all that's happened."

He knew she was lying and she knew that he knew it, but he let her step back.

"Look, I'm gonna go to Tiny's see how he's doing with Metallicar, it would be nice if they could take her back today y'know?"

"Then what?" he asked suspiciously wondering what she'd do to keep herself away from these three men he knew she cared so much for. He also wanted to be able to point Dean in the right direction if he asked where she was. He had a feeling there was something between them but for the life of him he couldn't figure out exactly what it was; camaraderie? sympatico? love? empathy? whatever it was, it was a very annoying white elephant that he was quite frankly tired of walking around and ignoring. Whatever it was he hoped they'd find a way to deal with it. 'big juicy wad o'business… they need to figure it out… that's for sure,' he nodded to himself.

TINY'S GARAGE.

"Wha'sa matter?" he asked while Laura sat wiping at Dean's dried blood all over the back seat. The brown plastic looking flakes a familiar sight to her. The pain he must've felt when that Demon was slowly exploding him, she was now familiar with, even if on a lesser scale.

"Just thinkin'," she muttered rubbing tears into the peroxide solution as they fell.

"That's not good for you y'know? I heard a report the other day... " he watched carefully and recognized at once the obligatory smile she plied him with. It was the same one she used to give him when he tried to distract her from Morgan's shenanigans. One day he was going to have to hang up his dream of being a comedian. She was a tough crowd.

She knew Dean would be ecstatic when he saw his baby. Sam and John would be happy as well and although she was glad for them, she also knew it meant no more reason to see them. No more chances to feel that wholeness she felt around the eldest son.

'No more Morgan even… he's finally free of the curse, at least I could do that for him… no one left… no… don't think of it… God don't let yourself feel it Laura… please… it's too late, I already know what it is I'm going to miss… once they leave I'll echo like the tin man in a hail storm… poor Bobby, he won't understand,' her breath wheezed laboriously within her as she continued to scrub and rinse the stains from Metallicars upholstery while the same thoughts whirred incessantly in her mind shearing another layer from her heartwith each pass.

ABOUT AN HOUR AWAY FROM BOBBY'S HOUSE.

'Stop Stop STOP!' he heard his mind screaming non-stop now until he thought the top of his head was going to pop right off. 'I can't! I can't see him! I heard his voice and it's all I can do to keep my hands on the wheel… I can't do this, I can't do this, _I can't do this_… I want to see my dad! He tried to kill me! That was the demon you know that! Those things he said… They lie! They also tell the truth! I can't…' he hadn't been aware of it but as this war waged within him Dean had lifted his foot slowly from the accelerator and was now pulling to the shoulder of the road, his knuckles white against the steering wheel as a terror more pure than anything he'd ever felt seemed to swarm buzzing all around him. 'This is worse than flying!... This is worse than crashing! I can't…'

"Dean? Dean what is it?" Sam asked noting the chalk white of his brothers' face and the death grip he had on the steering wheel. It looked like he was actually bending the thing. "Dean what's wrong!" he asked again feeling his heart take off at a raging gallop, 'Oh my God what's wrong? What's wrong with him? Please… Dean… holy crap he's shaking! This can't be happening… I think I'm going to throw up… wah wah your needs… he's having apanic attack… Dean doesn't panic! Never! Well okay plane trips don't count and he still dealt…' he reached out, uncertain if he should touch him or not. Dean taken by surprise could be fatal.

"Dean…Dean… please…" he said softly, laying his hand on his brothers' arm with one hand while putting the car into park with the other, "… it's okay it's me…let go of the wheel…" 'My God he's soaked to the skin…' "Come on Dean… work with me here," he pleaded watching his brothers' clothes turn glossy and dark with sweat that seemed to come from everywhere. The hollow of his throat seemed to be vibrating his heart was beating so fast and though his breathing was sporadic it was deep like he was running a marathon in his head.

'I won't do it… I won't let him do it again… he tried to kill me… he just wants me out of the way… I have to protect Sammy… it's what I do… it's my job… I have to keep him away from Sammy… but he's our DAD! He won't hurt us he's family… maybe it didn't leave him… maybe it's still in there… biding its time… waiting to get us close… oh God the pain…I won't survive that again…'

"Dean don't make me smack you!" Sam warned as he watched his brother turn waxy and his lips start to turn blue from oxygen deprivation. He hadn't taken even a shaky breath in over a minute and a half, surely it hadn't taken any longer than that to wrestle him from the drivers' seat and onto the shoulder of the road, and to top it off, he was corpse cold. "Damnit Dean!" he yelled and slapped him as hard as he could.

'Hey dumbass Sammy wants you…' Little Awareness Guy said from behind the maelstrom of fear rioting in his head, 'You might want to try breathing too… it's just a thought…'

Dean gasped and choked as air rushed into his lungs and his head began to pound, 'tell the guy with the jackhammer to lay off already…' he could feel a wet heat at his back and wondered why everything was blue, until he realized he was on his back and looking up at the sky. The air burned his lungs and throat and felt arctic cold. He became aware in increments that something had gone wrong. He was freezing and soaked and thirsty for a gallon of water first then a gallon of beer. 'What the hell?'

"Dean?" Sammy's face popped into view.

'He looks worried… wonder what happened?'

"Dean? Talk to me… keep breathing and talk to me…"

'Keep breathing? why wouldn't I be breathing?' Dean opened his mouth to ask him what the hell he was talking about but a chill snapped his teeth down hard on his tongue and he wondered if it was bleeding. "Ow… damnit," he grunted, "Sammy? What's goin' on? What happened? Why am I soaked? and cold?"

To add to his befuddlement Sam grinned and chuckled and to his ultimate embarrassment actually wrapped his arms around him and hugged him. 'Aaaaarrrrrggh! What's he doing?' "Get off me man… what's wrong with you?" he snarled pushing Sam off him.

"I should be asking you that…"

"What do you mean?"

"Well either you just had a massive panic attack or you went into a fugue…"

"A what?... why am I wet?" he asked and felt his eyes widen with a horrible potential for complete mortification. 'please tell me I didn't…'

"You broke out into this sweat man, like you just came up from a swim or something…" he explained thankfully oblivious to Dean's fear though not to the fact that his teeth were chattering and he was still soaked to the skin. "Hold on, lemme get your bag, you gotta put on some dry clothes or you're gonna get sick…"

Sam took a last quick assessment, his color was almost back to normal and he was breathing regularly as he sat against Gray Betty's side apparently without a clue as to what had just happened. Sam moved quickly to the trunk and opened Dean's bag grabbing a pair of jeans and a t-shirt for him to change into. As he drew out the t-shirt he noticed his finger had wrapped around something brittle and crusty and part of him scowled as he pulled it out.

At first he thought it was a rag or something but the steel blue beneath the crusted brown told him it was one of Dean's favorite shirts. He could hear Dean's shoes scraping on the gravel as he got up and started coming toward the trunk but Sam still couldn't move. Instead he continued to dig deeper into Dean's bag and came up with the pair of jeans he'd been wearing yesterday. He felt his stomach turn when he saw that they too were half stiff and covered in blood. They were so soaked in fact that in places they hadn't dried so it felt like wet cardboard in his hands.

"Sammy give me a towel will ya…" he asked coming around to the Betty's rear and looking into the trunk, at first not quite understanding what he was seeing, but in a moment his face contorted in confusion, "Dude what the hell did you do to my jeans?" his eyes next saw the t-shirt, "Oh man… I loved this shirt… what the hell did you _do_?"

"What did_ I_ do? _You_ were the one who was driving last night Dean…these aren't even dry yet…" Sam said hotly, his voice low but thick with suspicion.

"Dude, _You_ were the one driving… remember I woke up around 3:30,told you to pull over so I could take a leak?" Dean reminded him.

"Yeah… then we traded places and you took over driving… did we stop somewhere?" he asked.

"Don't you look at me like that! I didn't do anything, and I sure as hell didn't do anything that would result in _that_!" Dean nearly yelled defensively. He'd never really noticed it before but his brother could have a seriously penetrating gaze if he wanted to.

"Answer the question Dean… did we stop somewhere?" Sam asked.

"We stopped for gas… I got some coffee and snacks just before sunrise…"

"We gotta get a paper," Sam muttered softly.

"Sammy I did_ not_ hurt anyone!" Dean insisted though a little less vehemently now, it was the jeans that he'd been wearing yesterday, and his t-shirt, and they were soaked and stiff with what they both knew was blood. Whose it was, remained to be determined but if Dean could have one fugue, who's to say this was the first? 'First thing first… I need to get into some dry clothes that's for sure… Damn I'm cold…' he shook his head and headed around to the passenger side of the road just in case another car came along while he was changing. 'God please let there be a simple explanation for this, please don't let me be a murderer, please,' he begged.

'Please God don't let him be a murderer,' Sam pleaded inwardly while Dean moved around to the side of the car to change, 'there has to be a logical explanation for this…for the clothes, for the dream… I mean I dreamed I was Dad and it was his old partner at the garage in Lawrence, and we're nowhere near Lawrence so…but it was so… vivid and it was his face… and not like the shape shifter in St. Louis, even there I felt something different, a different kind of vibe… God tell me my brother isn't a psychopath…' his stomach flipped and his hands curled around the lip of the trunk, 'maybe he's possessed… okay if that's the case I can work with that….but I don't think this is any little phantom traveler type demon… no little Christo for this one… It's going to have to be holy water…' he thought and wrapped his hand around the plastic pint Dean had brought on the plane that time. 'But I practically soaked dad with holy water when we rescued him and it didn't phase the demon inside him, it was that powerful… Maybe both will have an effect…'

"Sam!" Dean called from the passenger side seconds before he could hear is boots crunching gravel once more as he seemed to be walking around the car, "Hey Sammy did you see my pendant?" there was almost a hint of desperation in his voice.

Sam heard what he said but was so focused on his racing heart and the oddly hopeful idea that his brother was possessed that the meaning didn't sink in.

"Huh?" he muttered fingering his way through the pages of John's journal to try and find an exorcism that would leave his brother in tact. He could hear Dean's footsteps coming around from the drivers side and he prepared himself as best as he could.

"Dude did you see…" he didn't finish the sentence. His mouth filled with bitterness as Sam doused him with holy water, the spray getting up his nose and into his eyes making them sting as he heard him say,

"Christo!"


	3. Chapter 3

SN – fic Ga'lo chapter 3.

By J.A. Carlton.

aka sifichick

Own 'em: I don't… Kripke does.

Love 'em: Oh yeah, me'n about a bazillion others out there or maybe we just love 'em a bazillion's worth…

BOBBY'S HOUSE.

"So you're trying to tell me you're teaching that girl to hunt?"

"Mmm hmm," Bobby nodded.

"And Dean… my _son_ Dean… the same son…"

"Yes John, the very same one convinced me to do it," Bobby confirmed.

John scrubbed his bearded face with his hands, "I don't believe it," he sipped the cup of coffee before him and took another bite of toast. He could feel how wasted his body had become with two months of minimal nutrition and complete lack of movement. He figured he'd lost about 30 pounds, all of it muscle from what he could tell. Thankfully Bobby had a penchant for drawstring sweats.

"And this woman Laura…?"

"Believe me… she's a friend,"

"She's been staying with your for the last month?" John looked at his friend suspiciously.

Bobby recognized the look and grinned shaking his head, "Dirty bastard, it's not like that… besides she's Dean's age…" he met John's dark brown eyes and realized he couldn't hide anything from him, "There's something you need to know about her and your boys…"

John cocked his eyebrow, he needed to be filled in on everything that had happened over the last couple months, his boys were on the way to see him and he wanted to be up to speed. He was willing to hear almost anything that would take his mind off the sick feeling in his belly, _How can I look at them? How can they stand the thought of coming to see me after everything I did to them… him. Everything I said… how can they…he possibly find it in his heart to forgive me when I can't forgive myself?_

"John…" Bobby snapped his fingers getting John's attention, "it's not your fault, they know that."

"How do you know?" he nearly snarled but there was pain and fear behind the gruff.

"Because I know your boys man, they love you and they want to see you. After what happened you all three got things to get through if you're going to take the bastard down…"

"Just how the hell do you know what we went through? You don't have any clue what that son of a bitch did while he was in my skin! You don't know what he did to my son!" John yelled with more force than Bobby would've guessed he had at the moment.

"I know enough to know it's going to tear you all apart if you don't deal with it. You and I both know you got some festering crap going on that's gonna leave you ripe for the pickins again if that bastard comes here lookin' for you…"

At that John's eyes met and bored into his old friends'. He hadn't really thought about Bobby's fortifications being breached but if that thing could ignore salt and holy water there was no telling what other methods of 'security' it could bypass.

"Yeah, that's right it could come for you, whatever's goin' on you and the boys are right smack in the middle of it… thankfully we've recently added some extra eyes around the place so that could help but there's no guarantee, not if that thing can possess anyone it wants…"

John sighed, _I think I was better off in the coma… _"I suppose it's good to know where you stand… so what have you got in place?" John asked.

"Like I said, eyes… and I didn't do it…"

"This Laura person did it?" John asked skeptically.

"Ayup…"

"Potent magiks?"

"Ayup."

John sighed, "Tell me about her…"

"There's plenty to tell my friend… some of it I'm not even sure she knows…"

At this John cocked his eyebrow and settled down to listen as Bobby told him what Dean had told him, what she'd shared of her story, and what he'd found out on his own. There was a lot to go through in very little time.

ON THE ROAD.

"We're not going to Bobby's first?" Sam asked.

Dean shook his head, _Not yet… maybe seeing my baby will calm me down._

"Tiny's?" Sam asked wondering how he'd been talked into letting Dean back behind the wheel. _Guilt Sammy boy… you did try to exorcise him… oh man that doesn't sound right any way I say it…_

"Yeah… I need a little… grounding or something. I mean first we find… what we found… anything in the papers?" he asked suddenly realizing that Sam's clodhoppers were shredding up the few area newspapers they'd picked up.

"Thankfully no… look Dean I already said…"

"You're sorry yeah I know, and really… believe me… I DO understand. Believe it or not I'm actually kinda glad you did it though I gotta say, holy water up the nose stings like a mutha…"

"Yeah I'll bet."

"Dude are you _sure_ you didn't see my pendant when you pulled me out of the car?" he asked agitated.

That was another thing _I know it means the world to him but did he really think he'd have it forever? With what we do?_ "Yeah, pretty sure… I mean we both did a ten yard out perimeter walk from the car. We tore the car apart including our bags, the trunk… everything… that pendant isn't anywhere here. Could you have left it in the motel in Oregon?" he asked though he knew Dean never took the thing off.

"I don't take it off Sammy, ever, you know that," he shook his head trying to remember the last time he'd actively noticed it around his neck. _When I was chasing the Ga'lo? I think so…I'm pretty sure…_he remembered a glint of light bouncing off his chest as he gave chase through the woods, before the thing popped his sternum back into place, _Okay yeah, had it then but what about after that? When I finally took the sum bitch down… jeez don't tell me it's sitting in the middle of a woods in freakin' Oregon! Probably wind up in some damned squirrel's nest…_

"What's the deal with that thing anyway? You've had it forever… but I don't remember you getting it," Sam asked.

Dean shook his head, "It's just… look…" _How do you explain something like that without sounding crazy… even for_ _**us**?_ "never mind… look once we check on the car we gotta go back Sam…"

Sam could feel his brows furrowing, he knew Dean developed odd attachments to inanimate objects; his chrome plated .9mm, his knife, the car… _Well Metallicar's different, she is part of the family… did he just say check on the car?_ "What about dad?" he asked as they pulled to a stop in Tiny's lot.

"What?" Dean asked looking confused at his little brother.

"You said, 'check on the car' what about Dad?" he asked.

Dean swallowed hard then hid behind a stiff bravado, "No Sam… we came all this way to NOT see dad…" he shook his head, "Dork," then shifted the car into park.

_So that's what brought it on,_ Sam realized with a flash of insight, aided by the fact that his 'cool as a cucumber' older brother had just started dripping sweat for no apparent reason.

"Dean you know it wasn't dad…" he watched Dean roll his eyes.

"Yeah I know that Sam… it was the demon thanks for the newsflash…" he pulled the handle and pushed the door open even though he felt like a melting puddle. _Just need a little fresh air is all._

"All I'm saying is that after everything it did to you Dean, you have a right to be a little…"

"What? Scared? Up to my eyeballs in Post Traumatic-y goodness?" _And why shouldn't I be? _"Give me a break Sam," _Breaking open my damned chest like green wood,_ "You know it was the demon," _In Dad's skin, _"The demon knows it," _What do you want to bet it said those things because dad was thinking them? _"I'm sure dad knows it," _was telling the truth 'cause that sure hurts more, _"and yeah, I know it was dad…" _Cause really, it was right…It was right, when you guys fight even I can see it's dad's way of saying how much he cares… does he ever fight like that with me? Well it's not like I give him a reason to either… but still all I get are 'the looks'. Hey… he's saying something again…_

"…dad?" Sammy was looking at him expectantly.

_What? What'd I say? What the hell does he think he's lookin' at?_ "What?"

"I said 'do you realize you just said you knew it was _dad_?'" he repeated oddly fascinated by Dean's current state. There was something about what was going on with his brother that was like watching a train wreck, he appeared to be on the verge of falling apart. Sam could almost swear he saw Dean's outer appearance, all that armor he kept so tightly buckled around himself, spider-webbing like safety glass. _Wow… he might just be heading for a breakdown… Not Dean, never happen. He won't let it…he'll get a grip… yeah like he did on the road? What if he's already splintered… let's not forget about the blood soaked clothes in the trunk right? They are his… maybe we shouldn't go see dad, it could throw him right over the edge if he's as close to it as I think he is._

Dean shook his head angrily, "Oh so what's that? a Freudian slip… I thought Freud had a Mother complex…"

"That was Oedipus," Sam corrected reflexively.

"Yeah whatever dude… You go ahead and use that psyche 101 course to your hearts content 'cause I'm just psychobabbalicious and we both know it… Now are we gonna go see…"

He stopped in his tracks, his scowl clenching for a moment as a familiar choppy, glass-pack enhanced thunder came rolling at him across the dusty lot, from somewhere he couldn't see. But he knew that sound.

They met eyes and broke into mirror grins as each looked at a different side of the garage, waiting, watching for their favorite girl. She came around from the left, on Dean's side, like she was homing in on him, and she was beautiful. Her chrome shot stabs of impossible brightness into their eyes as it caught the sun but her glossy black body soothed them quickly. Dean could feel pinpricks at the corners of his eyes as she came to a stand still before him, her grin game and her eyes gleaming, ready to re-join the fight against evil. He barely moved as Sammy slapped him on the shoulder saying, "Breathe man I won't pick you up this time…"

Sam doubted he'd ever seen Dean look so stunned. He realized then just how much of him that car really was. It was as if all the stress left him and to his amazement, Dean had stopped sweating and was once more 'cool as a cucumber' as the saying went. Grinning hugely Sam leaned in and whispered something in Dean's ear that made him blush and shove him hard away though it was definitely in good humor.

Tiny seemed to take that as his cue to step from the car. As the door opened and the familiar squee and buckle hit his ears he actually gasped. _He didn't grease her greeting out Thank God…my baby's whole again…I could cry… except Sammy'd never let me live it down…oh baby we need to go for a ride and find us a nice girl to make some new memories with…oh yeah… _And to his surprise, Dean felt something inside himself fall almost completely back into place. He suddenly had the sense that he just might be able to handle seeing dad after all. _Hopefully,_ he thought stepping forward and taking the big man's hand into both of his and shaking it vigorously before daring a manly arm wrap around his shoulders he was so grateful. Tiny's smile seemed to light up the lot. This was the moment that was most rewarding for him when he restored a car.

Tiny inspected Grey Betty while the boys transferred their gear and inspected Metallicar. He hoped they wouldn't mind the liberties he took with her. He'd lined her trunk with a custom made weapons trunk complete with holders or cut-outs for everything from their garlic and throwing stars to their guns and boxes of shells. He left a nice big foam lined spot for anything that was odd shaped, or too big for the pull-out accordion shelves he'd built, he'd equipped the false bottom with a roll type titanium combination lock and reinforced the most common impact zones with fine sheets of titanium as well. The job had cost an arm and a leg but Laura hadn't seemed to care. She had income that kept coming and after liquidating her retirement accounts, despite the penalties she still had enough to keep herself afloat for a solid year before she'd have to tap anything else. That was one of the benefits of knowing your past lives, you could will yourself quite a bit if you really tried.

"So what the hell happened to the beast?" he asked later while they sat up in his apartment having a beer.

Dean and Sam toldhim the story of the Ga'lo and all that had happened to lead them up to that point. Neither of them mentioned the carefully bagged blood soaked clothes or Dean's… moment on the road but even still Tiny had been around enough supernatural elements to know they were hiding something and it wasn't long before they were talking about a lot more than just invisible creatures that fed on guilt.


	4. Chapter 4

SN – fic Ga'lo chapter 4.

disclaimer… still counts

Love – still there.

As the sun tipped West of its daily pinnacle the boys realized they had to get on the road to Bobby's to see their dad and fill him in. They couldn't put it off any longer, they had to begin to mend the wounds they'd been carrying around.

Tiny and Dean walked out into the bright afternoon light, neither of them noticing the cascading band of shadow that seemed to flow across the weed dotted ground from Grey Betty to nestle under Metallicar.

"…and she wouldn't say what was wrong?" Dean took advantage of Sam's time in the bathroom to ask about Laura.

"Nah, she don't lay out her cares… but if I had to guess I might go ahead and guess that she's just really gonna miss you. She took a quick liking to you and that's not normal for her… it's genuinely unusual…"

"Well… it was unusual circumstances… do you think she went back to Bobby's?" Dean asked. He couldn't leave without saying good-bye or thanking her for everything she'd done on their behalf, _Or saying good-bye, _he thought again and felt a strange quivering sensation in his belly just as the hairs on the back of his neck stood at attention. He looked around the yard, feeling as though he was forgetting something.

"Probably, she said she wanted to check on your dad again before you got there," the big man shrugged as Sam joined them at Metallicar's side and offered his hand.

"We can't thank you enough Tiny… really," he smiled, "She looks beautiful."

"Just promise me that if God Forbid anything happens you'll bring her back to me, she was a real joy to work on," he grinned.

"Yeah well God Forbid is right but we'll definitely bring her around every now and again. I don't think Dad's gonna be in any shape to make any long trips for a while," Dean grinned shaking Tiny's hand emphatically, his eyes speaking all the gratitude that sometimes wedged itself in his throat. To his chagrin the big man actually tussled his overgrown buzz cut and looked pretty embarrassed by the level of appreciation he was receiving.

Tiny stood grinning and waving as they pulled out onto the road, the choppy thunder streaming away toward Bobby's house with just a bit of odd black soot seeming to cling to the tail pipes. _Eh, it'll clean up._ He thought glad to have his work appreciated.

BOBBY'S DRIVEWAY.

_A funny thing happened on the way to Bobby's house…_Dean thought feeling his brows furrow as he pressed down on the accelerator. She seemed to get a little sluggish at the turn onto the driveway but true to her nature she responded with a rush of gas and a return to speed once the turn was made.

Overhead a raven flew across the sky and Dean couldn't help but think, _Don't you dare!_ but he needn't have worried, it banked gracefully and disappeared into a nearby stand of trees without a second glance at his newly rebuilt baby. _Smart bird…_ he thought sternly and grinned when he saw Laura's gold sedan parked nose to nose with Bobby's truck. _Good, maybe we can take a walk or something_… he thought as he felt his younger brother stiffen and scowl then shake his head and seem to relax a bit. _What is it with him?_ he wondered yet again as he put the car into park and reluctantly got out.

"Hey boys…" Bobby greeted as they leapt up the steps and entered the house, "Welcome back…" he nodded noting the anxious expressions on their faces. "He's in the bathroom… listen he's gonna put on a good show but he's got a ways to go yet…"

"I don't need coddling from my sons Bobby," John growled coming up behind him, eyeing his children with painful uncertainty. He could see his pain and trepidations mirrored in his eldest sons' face and it gave him an odd sense of comfort to know Dean was as uncertain as he. It leveled the field between them a bit. Sammy on the other hand oddly had no compunctions and simply wrapped him into an embrace that felt like it came from a giant.

_I really gotta put some weight back on… the beanpole is making me feel frail!_ he thought bemused by the concept and crazily verging on tears at finding them whole.

"Dad… you had us so scared… I'm so sorry I blew it… but Dean and I have made some progress…" Sam stammered and stopped noting the frozen look of barely controlled fear on his brothers' sweat dripping face. What happened next did so all at once and seemed to happen in slow motion, yet none of them could stop it.

Breaking through his fear Dean's hand reached into his inner jacket pocket while the other grabbed their dad by the wrist. A flash of light on metal later he was pressing the edge of a strange looking knife, dagger actually that Sam had never seen before, against John's palm. In the same instant, the back door slammed open and Laura was almost instantly at Dean's side just as the razor sharp edge was penetrating the first layers of skin to draw the finest of blood lines against the blessed metal.

"It's okay Dean… you don't have to do that," she said softly lifting his hand to take the blade from John's palm.

Dean's glance moved from his father's surprised but comprehending countenance to Sammy's horrified expression to Laura's calm assuring smile. "He's not possessed," she looked at all four men, one to the next ending with Bobby, "The sidhe have sensed evil nearby… they think all three of them together have brought it forth."

"Did they say where?" Bobby and John asked together.

She shook her head, "Just very close… like within the perimeter close…"

_There's something different about her… hunting is good for her,_ Dean thought appreciatively noting the black jeans and t-shirt and the odd gold ring around her neck, _That's a torque!… eh it's probably a family heirloom… there's something about those things though… what was it again?_

"Did you say sidhe?" Dean and Sam asked in unison looking at her curiously and with some small measure of awe.

"As in Faerie folk?" Dean asked curious as he faced her full on, his hands gently clasping around her upper arms as she took the dagger from him and while falling into his eyes passed it to Sam so she could clasp his forearms in her hands.

"Yeah…" she breathed smiling contentedly.

The electricity between them filled the room as if lightning had struck and even Bobby who'd seen more in the last two months than he had in the previous six combined was stunned by the force of it. He'd felt it when he talked to Dean about teaching Laura, or with her about Dean but the two of them in the same room together hadn't happened up to this point and he was frankly stunned by it, whatever IT really was.

John and Sam were likewise surprised. John throwing a questioning look at Sam who shook his head and shrugged completely stymied by the last 30 seconds and all that had happened within it.

_Wow… Bobby said there was something but… My God… this isn't humanly possible… should we all be feeling this… it's like static all over the place… it's got to be the magiks…_

"Hey…" Bobby said after about fifteen more seconds of their silent eye-diving then gave her a shove on the shoulder that broke their physical contact, made them both grin and made her blush an interesting shade of pink that made Dean want to chuckle.

She looked from Dean to John and back to Dean, "He's nervous too… just get it over with," she advised and strode down the hall to the bathroom where seconds later they heard water running.

John nodded looking Dean in the eye, "Dean… I'm sorry…" he choked and felt his eldest sons' solid frame impact as he was drawn into a fierce hug that began the catharsis they both needed.

Sam looked at the dagger in his hand and felt like he was being torn in two. He recognized the Celtic design and knew she'd given it to Dean but couldn't figure out when or how. He was impressed that a ceremonial dagger would have the power to exorcise or at least expose a demon but he was furious that Dean hadn't told him about it, that he had in fact kept him completely in the dark about it and its properties and he'd probably done so because she'd told him to. _Bitch!_ snarled in the back of his head taking a surprisingly firm grasp on his psyche as he strode to the bathroom, part of him itching to just swipe her throat with that sacred blade.

Instead he caught her by the elbow, his fingers driving deep into the joint space there as he leaned in close and said, "We need to talk."

He led her out through the kitchen and into the backyard unobserved by the three remaining men. Bobby was tending John's cut and John and Dean both looking shame-faced and trying to wade through the emotional slime Big Bad had left behind.

Sam closed the back door softly then swung hard with his left hand literally trying to throw her down the back stairs. She threw herself into the jump instead and landed safely on the ground facing him, her gaze certain as the wind picked up and debris swirled in a dervish around the yard.

"There's one in you isn't there?" she asked.

"You think you're so smart? You think you can turn my own brother against me? Who the hell do you think you are? What gives you the right to interfere with my family?" he yelled stalking towards her, his voice heavy with malice as his six foot four inch frame moved steadily and frighteningly toward her five foot three inch self.

"I'm trying to protect your family Sam… you know that… you have to fight whatever's happening to you, fight for your dad and your brother… they need you…"

As she pleaded trying to reach the youngest Winchester's true nature through the dark influence over him, corrupting him, the dervish in the yard began to defy the laws of this realms physics. It started to coalesce into what was beginning to look like a tightly packed column of earth and to make matters worse, she could see a shadow growing at the far corner of the house content for the moment to linger in mid air, a malevolent cloud of living dark dust.

With her renewed connection to the immaterial plane she could see small mounds of Earth cropping up and from the mounds gossamer half seen figures of the sidhe as they moved through the four entities in the hard to stand guard over the men in the house and do what they could to prevent any harm from coming to them.

Laura tried to back away as Sam came closer, his expression almost black with fury. Up close she could see a slow stream, each mote of that dark dust moving of its own accord adding to the growing corruption of his being. At her back was the now solid column of earth that was another newly formed Golem, cousin to the Ga'lo they thought they'd defeated in Oregon.

Laura felt her ribs begin to compress as Sam leered closer wagging the dagger before her. It felt like someone had run a pitchfork through her chest as he grinned and looked back at the house where the sidhe stood sentinel, doing their best to keep the back door closed against the boys within, as they tried to get outside and lend a hand.

"To bad there aren't enough of them to help you instead of keeping them safe…" he mocked.

_They're doing what they've been asked to do… and if I asked for an army of them to come and kill you, they'd be here but I will not sacrifice Sam no matter what happens, I will not let Dean lose his little brother. _She swore to herself as another shearing sensation ripped through her.

"What do you care? Why do you bother with these worthless meat sacks?" he asked keeping her pinned against the golem as he drew the tip of the dagger down her cheek to the torque at her throat. "Hmm, think that'll help? Some heirloom you think is imbued with what? Some kind of power?" he sneered and held up his hand waving Dean's amulet before her eyes on its black leather cord.

"This haspower," he taunted. Over his shoulder she could see Dean's eyes grow wide as he realized what his brother was holding, then she saw him pick up a chair and swing it at the window with everything he had.

_Oooh that recoil is gonna hurt_ she thought as her chest began to crack yet again, this time under the combined force of the demons' will, Sammy's abilities and the Golem's strength.

The faces of the sidhe guarding the boys inside were filled with compassion and a few of them looked like they wanted to help this newest edition to the Warrior Goddess's earthly representatives, but she could hear and understand them and knew they would hold their post. She saw Dean rocked by the recoil of the chair against the currently unbreakable glass and tried to hold back against the howling scream that wanted to split the day.

"He's so much easier to manipulate without this…" the demon taunted through Sam as he angled the point of the dagger forward to dimple the skin of her throat as he slowly increased the pressure, "You know once you're dead the guilt will drive him over the edge… he was so close but I made the mistake of underestimating the impact… get it? Impact that returning the car to him would have… he's really very entertaining for a primate…" he continued to mock pushing the blade another millimeter in.

She had to do something to stop the pain, and if she could find out as much about when this demon took Sam over, she miht be able to help him overthrow it, but she did it more to escape the pain, "Show me," she gaspedand placed her hand on the side of his head.

Images rocketed through her coupled with feelings, an overwhelming sense of failure and self loathing; Jessica burning up against the ceiling, Mary Winchester dying the same horrifying way, some boy named Max blowing his own head off, Dean in a hospital dying, John in a coma, a policeman drowning, someone named Meg screaming and dying horribly, Dean half torn apart, some guy in a garage in Kansas ripped to shreds but left alive to linger agonizingly while the golem he'd used to do the deed dragged Dean's clothes through the copious pools of blood, focusing on the amulet and chanting an incantation meant to weaken the warrior mind and spirit.

She was drawn deep into his mind, so deep she could no longer feel the anguish he was putting her body through, but she could hear him screaming for help. Though his mind was labyrinthine his calls drew her as if there was but one way to go.

"Sam? Can you hear me?"

"Laura? Laura is that you? Thank God…" she saw his face press against the bars in the door that held him prisoner in his own body and mind, "You gotta help me get out of here before it makes me hurt someone! Please!"

INSIDE THE KITCHEN.

"Dean stop they're not going to let us out…" Bobby tried to restrain him.

"Sammy's killing her!" he yelled frustrated.

"It's not Sam!"

"Something's happening…" John said from the window. It was as if time had stopped, laundry held itself in mid-flutter, nothing moved, the leaves and debris that had kept feeding the golem were literally frozen in both time and space as were Laura and Sam.

From the angle they could see the blade of her dagger now sunk deep in her throat, and her hand frozen at Sam's temple.

"Oh God… she went in…" Dean breathed groaning and turning pale as he slumped into a chair.

"Went in?" John asked, "Into his mind?"

"Uh huh."

"But who's? The demon's or Sammy's?" he asked.

Dean shook his head, "I don't know."

In seconds a howling alto broke wide into the world drawing them to the window where they watched as several things happened all at once.

Movement returned to the world and behind Laura the golem collapsed in a heap of debris, its earthy hardness now acting as a softer pile upon which she fell, blood running in a tiny track down her throat but pouring from her mouth and nose as she gasped in agony. For the third time they watched a demon exorcised from someone. Sammy flew backwards from the force of the demon's leaving and slid several yards in the dirt, and lastly, once it had disappeared into the ether the back door opened and the warriors of the sidhe approached both Sam and Laura.

One of the ethereal beings stooped near Laura, picked up and studied with fascination the pendant the possessed human child had wielded maliciously.

"Get Sammy!" Dean ordered as he led the way outside and moved to Laura who lay gasping on the ground, blood pooling from the wounds the demon had caused. If anyone knew what she was feeling right now it was him.

"Laura?" he whispered and looked up glancing between the fifteen comparatively tiny warriors and the two men with his brother. Bobby and John were helping Sam to his feet and it seemed that some of the sidhe wanted to help so appeared to be clinging to all three sets of legs as they crossed the yard to join Dean and his own little cadre of protectors.

Half a dozen of the other-worldly folk stood around Laura, their faces calm yet their concern palpable as they perhaps began to speak and her breathing seemed to even out. One of them reached for the dagger sticking out of her throat.

"Wait! That might be the wrong thing to do…" Dean protested and felt a flush of downy warmth as the one with the pendant touched his arm, smiled and held it up before securing the cord around his neck effectively keeping him occupied while the other pulled the dagger and allowed the wound to close.

From within the circle of sidhe a pea soup mist rose obscuring everything for a long moment before he felt only Earth under his hand. "Laura? Where is she?" he demanded disquieted by her sudden disappearance but strangely not really fearing any danger for her. In front of him a raven called and lighted on his shoulder. It sat calmly, clicking its beak against his cheek and even going so far as to nip his earlobe as the pieces of the puzzle fell into place and he started to recall the old Celtic tales of the Warrior Goddess and her maidens, that they could transform into crows or ravens usually on a battlefield. He looked deep into the sparkling black eye of the bird on his shoulder and ran his hand down its chest. It promptly hopped onto his hand and just as quickly flew away.

In seconds the mist cleared, "Laura!" he called as from several yards out in the back field she came walking back to the yard seemingly none the worse for her encounter.

Stunned and somewhat apprehensive John, Bobby and Sam moved closer to the circle of sidhe where Laura knelt before Dean and felt herself taken hard into his embrace. One of the sidhe, the one who'd returned his pendant leaned in close to her ear and made a noise like running water. Dean figured it was talking to her.

"Yes I do… very much," she responded smiling, "thank you for your help," she caressed its face and watched as he and the others disappeared back into their mounds content to continue to watch.

"You okay Sammy?" Dean asked around a large lump in his throat though he wouldn't let go of Laura.

"Yeah…" Sam knelt before them both and noted the protective grip Dean had on her, he looked deep into her eyes, his own glassy with shame, "I'm sorry… and thank you."

"Hey… folks like us… we gotta stick together," she smiled touching his cheek tenderly, "I'm just glad you're back and that you're all you…"

"Me too," he nodded standing up as she and Dean also rose.

"Do we have to start singing kumbaya now?" Dean asked as they made their way back into the house knowing the war was far from over though this particular battle was theirs.

LATER.

"So what exactly was it that happened?" Dean asked later as he and Laura meandered through the back field while Bobby got the grill going for dinner.

"Sam was able to push it out… all he needed was the opportunity…"

"Yeah I get that part… I'm talking about the sidhe, the torque and the raven thing… don't you usually have to be a God or Goddess or something for all that? You didn't go and get yourself unduly evolved or anything did you?" he asked nervously.

Laura stopped and turned him to face her, then took his other hand into hers so that she was holding them both. "Not hardly… I'm just an emissary but I'm still just me too. It is a pretty cool perks package though," she fell into his eyes again, here was a man who could understand her life and the choice to answer the call.

"So… when you came back… that sidhe warrior asked you something…."

"Uh huh," she nodded and smiled cockily at him as her hair tried to stand on end. He cocked an eyebrow expectantly and she grinned, "It asked me if I love you."

He tried to hold back his smile, "and what was it you said again?"

"Yes I do… very much," she answered easily.

"Oh yeah, that's what you said," he grinned lowering his head and pausing millimeters from her lips, "… say it…"

"I love you Dean Winchester," she gasped as he pulled her into him and felt every hair on his body stand on end as their lips met at last.

As they were engulfed in living energy she felt him grin against her lips, "That's hot..."

"Hey…" Bobby called as John and Sam joined him at the bar-b-que where he pointed to the field where a blue light emanated from Dean and Laura's last known position.

"Told you there was something between those two."

The End.

Hope you all liked it and that once again… you'll please be so kind as to review. It would be nice to have a few comments to help me in my personal projects that I'll be returning to work on . Not that I don't love the boys, I really do… but we've got spoilers for season two and I don't want to go back into the guess-fest waters. I'll just wait and watch and see what TETIK comes up with to torment us all. (After season two is over maybe another fic or two can't promise not to.)

Thanks in advance.

Sifi.


End file.
